Alaska: Part Five

Homer

Thursday morning, Gail and I drove south across the Kenai Peninsula to Homer, the halibut capital of the world.  The four and a half hour drive climbed into the mountains, passing aqua blue lakes, forests, and alpine peaks with massive snow fields.

 We stopped along the Turnagain Arm for the view, and spotted this Bald Eagle eating a fish out on a sandbar.  It was at least a quarter mile away.

 Driving a little further, Gail spotted this Trumpeter Swan.

We arrived at Homer, and found our lodge, the Lands End Resort, which is on the end of a 4.5 mile spit.

 From our 3rd floor balcony we looked down on sea otters passing by, fishing boats pulling up salmon, and beachcombers strolling the sandy beach.

 From the other side of the building we could see a Bald Eagle tending to her two fledglings up on a tall pole.

 At the harbor, a short walk away, were hundreds of Kittywakes nesting or resting.

 Kittywakes

We walked around the spit and just had to go into the Salty Dawg Saloon.  Sarah had told us how she took my parents there when they were in their 80's.  She said as they stepped in, a fight broke out.  She instinctively put her arms out in front of Mom and Dad to keep them from the fray.

Salty Dawg Saloon

There was a pleasant mix of fishermen and tourists.

There is a lot of money stapled to the walls and ceiling!

 When we stepped out of the Salty Dawg, we were met by sunshine.  It was almost a foreign experience after having been in overcast and rainy skies the last six days.  Photo from our balcony.

 In the distance across the Kachemak Bay is Kachemak Bay State Park.  You have to take a water taxi to get there.  Gail and I hope to come back someday, stay in a yurt there, and hike our brains out.

 After dinner, we walked around the harbor.

And saw this neat motorhome.

 Friday morning, and the weather looks great!

 This Bald Eagle waits near an uncovered dumpster hoping for fish scraps.

 You can walk right under him.

 Across the street from the post office there is an eagle nest.  No eagles were in the nest, but this juvenile was in a tree nearby.

 I went to the dump as I was told by a city worker that there were a lot of eagles in the surrounding trees.  I only saw this one.  The dump manager said they didn't have very many anymore because the garbage is now buried right away.

After driving along the pretty bay, we said goodbye to Homer.  After about 15 miles, we turned off to check out Anchor Point, North America's most westerly highway location.  Following the Anchor river a couple miles we ended up at Anchor Beach.

 A lot of dead fish parts littered the beach.  Gulls and this eagle were taking advantage.

 We hiked down the beach until we came to the river.  We saw these Red-breasted Mergansers.  We also saw bear scat and areas of tall grass that were matted down.  Seemed like prime grizz habitat!

 On the road again, we had to stop and look at this Airstream trailer.

 Looking across Cook Inlet you can see volcanoes of the Aleutian Range.  This is Mt. Redoubt, which erupted as recently as 2009.

 We were wise to come late in the summer, as we had practically no mosquitoes.  As you can see, they can be Alaskan big!

Scenery like this makes a drive pleasant.

 Feeling the need for a hike, we climbed Bird Ridge Trail, only about 10 miles or so from Sarah's home.

The trail is steep, and we climbed 2,300 feet in little over an hour.  Due to time, we had to turn back, but we wished we could have gone to the top at 3,100 feet.

 We decided to stop at Beluga Point to watch the sunset and maybe see a Beluga Whale.  We perched on this rock.

 We were about ready to leave and then we started seeing Belugas.  They looked dark as they went toward the setting sun, but white as they came from the east.  They didn't surface for long, and I had trouble photographing them with my telephoto.

Beluga Point sunset.

Tomorrow is the day we've been waiting for.  Will Denali be out for our bush pilot tour?